Teachers are some of the hardest workers, says research

New research carried out amongst over 1,600 primary and secondary school teachers shows over half within the profession regularly spend more than 56 hours a week engaged in their work during term time.

Even after taking into account adjustments for the school holiday periods, when teachers continue to work an average of 13 hours a week, the findings show that teachers work an annualized average of 48.3 hours each week.

When compared with other professions, teachers now work more ‘average actual weekly hours’ than all other professionals, with the exception of production managers and directors in mining and energy.

According to the website tesconnect.com, which carried out the research, today’s teachers spend 10.4 hours each week planning the 303 different classroom presentations they make every year.

The majority [74%] of teachers now regularly use presentation software such as PowerPoint more traditionally associated with fast-paced commercial settings.

As for work-life balance, 81% believe that the ‘hidden hours’ spent behind the scenes, which go largely unnoticed by pupils and even fellow colleagues, are actually having a damaging effect on their health.

Over half [55%] are also worried about the impact on their personal life. More than three-quarters of teachers [78%] say that every Sunday afternoon or evening is dedicated to working on plans they will use in the upcoming week.

And over two thirds [70%] say that they have even sacrificed a night’s sleep in the past three months to get the job done.

The study found that nearly half [48%] of teachers spend more time preparing for their classes than they spend in the actual classroom.

Nine in ten [90%] say that the demands of the day means they have little or no time between lessons to prepare plan or simply recover from the previous class.

Over four in five [88%] agree that that they have 'no breathing space’ during the day to think about their next lesson.